Netanyahu warns that nuclear Iran would ‘be immortal, like North Korea’; says he would talk to Rouhani

New York — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is prepared to speak with the Iranian president on the telephone and would consider meeting him — but only to demand that Tehran abandon its nuclear program.

Mr. Netanyahu said in interviews following his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly this week that he did not rule out engaging in diplomatic contact with Hassan Rouhani.

Having told CNN that he would accept a call from the Iranian president, he was then asked by NPR on Friday if he would agree to a meeting. “If I’m offered, I’ll consider it,” said Mr. Netanyahu.

“I would stick this question in their face. Are you prepared to dismantle your program completely? Because you can’t stay with the enrichment.”

The hawkish Israeli leader reiterated that nothing less than the comprehensive scrapping of Tehran’s nuclear enrichment scheme would be acceptable to his country.

“The reason they insist on enrichment is because they want to maintain the path to nuclear weapons,” he said, dismissing Iran’s claims the program is directed at civilian energy production.

Mr. Netanyahu also poured cold water on hopes that Mr. Rouhani, a relative moderate who last week held a landmark phone conversation with President Barack Obama, could achieve significant reform.

“He is a servant of the regime,” said Mr. Netanyahu.

In an interview with the BBC’s persian service, he added: “He represents a desire for change, but it wasn’t expressed in a free open election.

“I don’t think he has the mandate to change the real decisions that are made by [Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei. Khamenei wants nuclear weapons for Iran.”

He dismissed Mr. Rouhani’s proposal to scale back Iran’s enrichment program in return for an easing of economic sanctions as “a fake deal.”

That would involve the “complete dismantling of Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons,” he told the BBC.

“If they want civilian energy, they don’t need enrichment. Uranium enrichment is necessary only if you want nuclear weapons,” he said.

“If they get nuclear weapons this brutal regime will be immortal, like North Korea. It will go on repressing the people of Iran, who deserve better. They are a great people.”

‘If they get nuclear weapons this brutal regime will be immortal, like North Korea’

He added, “We are not suckers,” using the Persian word for “suckers.”

The notoriously outspoken prime minister made clear he had no intention of toning down his rhetoric. “I’m 64 years old this month,” he said. “I’ve decided, you know, just say it like it is.”

“A terrorist regime bent on world domination, seeking to navigate their way cleverly to the point where they have awesome power, should not be allowed to achieve it,” he said.

In a small but widely-publicized gesture, Mr. Rouhani took to Twitter last month to wish “all Jews” a happy Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The tweet marked a significant shift from the fiery rhetoric of Mr. Ahmadinejad who denied the Holocaust to the fury of Jews worldwide.

The Rosh Hashanah tweet was rejected by Mr. Netanyahu who said: “I am not impressed by the blessings uttered by a regime that just last week threatened to destroy the state of Israel.”